Homemade organic fruit bread

You can’t beat good quality fruit bread made with wholesome organic ingredients. Bread that’s lush with plump dried organic fruit and baked to perfection is nearly everyone’s favourite mid-morning snack in my house. When I’m baking, the aroma from this fruit bread permeates every corner of the house and is enough to bring everyone into the kitchen to find out what’s going on. What’s that good smell?

And then of course, “Who’s having the first slice?” plays out. It’s a running joke in my house. Drawing on the famous comedy sketch, “Who’s on first base?”, our very own version takes place just before I cut the first slice of fruit bread. Laughter and mirth follow. But the funniest thing of all is that I don’t even remember what it was, or who it was, that initiated the gag. It doesn’t really matter. Sometimes laughter and just plain nonsense is infectious. You just have to go with it sometimes. No, who’s not having the second slice, who’s having the third slice…

Ingredients

2 teaspoons (7g) dry yeast
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar
2 tablespoons warm water
2/3 cup (160ml) warm milk
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
2 cups (300g) plain flour, extra 1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g softened butter
¼ cup (40g) sultanas
¼ cup (40g) raisins
¼ cup (35g) dried currants
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon caster sugar, extra
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

Grease a 14cm x 21cm loaf pan. Line the base with baking paper. Combine the yeast, 2 teaspoons of the sugar and water in a large bowl. Whisk until the yeast is dissolved. Whisk in the milk and the sifted flour. Cover, stand in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until the mixture is frothy.

Stir in the egg, rind, sifted extra flour, salt, cinnamon and remaining sugar. Stir in the softened butter and fruit.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth. Place the dough into a greased bowl, cover, stand in a warm place for about 1.5 hours or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface again. Knead until smooth. Place the dough carefully into a prepared pan. Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap and stand in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until risen slightly. Remove the plastic wrap. Brush the loaf with egg yolk, sprinkle with combined extra sugar and extra cinnamon. Bake in a moderately hot oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderate and bake for a further 30 minutes. Turn onto a wire rack to cool